


The Ending

by marblekazuichi



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Canon Continuation, Gen, Post-Finale, The Void, human au (only for a portion of the story), post Inquisition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26530921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marblekazuichi/pseuds/marblekazuichi
Summary: So maybe Rob was right when he tried making everyone into those flesh bag thingies, because now all of Elmore is in the void, and Gumball is stuck in a loop of alternate universes. Well, one thing's for sure, and it's that this kid usually doesn't give up! Usually. Sometimes. Alright, occasionally. But he's got this, right? ...Yeah, maybe he's gonna need some help.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Penny Fitzgerald/Gumball Watterson, Rob & Gumball Watterson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

As it turned out, Rob was right.

...That’s weird. It seems even thinking those words was enough to make Gumball shudder.

Whatever. Rob was right about everything happening in Elmore. After the whole superintendent fiasco, all of the students returned home and had a fairly normal evening. That is, as normal as their evenings could get. What could only be described as a food cold war was happening at the Watterson’s dinner table, taking up most of their meal time. Eventually, everyone calmed down and ate their now-lukewarm food. Everything was fine! The family watched TV, and then went to bed.

And that’s when everything happened.

In the middle of the night, a loud noise sounded outside. It was like the sound of an earthquake, though there was something about it that didn’t seem right. The kids all jumped out of bed to look out their window.

“...I don’t see anything.”

“Maybe it was one of our stomachs?”

“I… Don’t think that’s what stomachs sound like, dude…”

The three siblings watched out their window, waiting for anything to happen. The noise seemed to be getting louder, but nothing was going on outside.

Before anyone could comment, everything with a screen suddenly flicked on and made a harsh static sound, accompanied by static on the screens. The kids tightly covered their ears, and ran down the stairs to where Richard and Nicole were repeatedly hitting the TV.

“What’s going on!?” Gumball yelled out, muffled by the noise.

Nicole was too busy kicking the TV to hear her son, grunting with each kick. How was it not broken yet?

“Uhh… Guys?” Darwin called out from the front window. He motioned them over, to show them what was happening.

The ground all around their house was giving way to a deep chasm, swallowing anything in its path. The entire neighborhood seemed to have already fallen in, leaving only the Wattersons’ house. The family jumped back and screamed.

“What the what is going on!?”

“Just stay here, honey!”

“Mom, we’re gonna be swallowed!”

The woman desperately tried to find any sort of words, but couldn’t. Neither could anyone else. As the house began to fall, the family all held each other as they were the final part of Elmore to fall in.

Which leads us to where we are now.

And by we, I mean Gumball. The blue cat slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the harsh light. As he regained consciousness, he half-recognized where he was. The void. Though, this time it seemed to be much more full. It was as if the entire town was crappily copied and pasted into a TV with no signal. That seemed to be a running theme with everything that’s happened up to this point. 

Gumball cautiously walked down the jagged sidewalk, occasionally tripping over some random mistake. “Hello?” He called out. Opening the doors to any house he could find, he searched for anyone, but found nothing. 

Eventually, he reached his school. After spending what seemed like hours looking through the place, he managed to come to a rational conclusion.

This was obviously his personal Hell.

Letting that set in, he took a seat on the stairs outside of Elmore Junior High. He looked up at what used to be the sky, and was now some warped screen, occasionally flickering to what seemed like cartoons, then back to nothing. He turned his attention away, not really enjoying the implications of any of this. Kicking his feet back and forth, he finally got back up with a sigh. It wasn’t worth giving up now, right?

Well, apparently it was. Because he didn’t find anything else, aside from his house. That was good enough for him! He checked around the house, just to be sure nobody was there, then went up to his room. 

“Okay, don’t panic, Gumball! I’m sure this is  _ all  _ just a silly dream. You’re gonna wake up and laugh!” He glanced in front of his mirror. “This is your relaxed face. This is what you look like when you’re relaxed. When you’re completely fine with  _ everything _ .” He forced a smile, then plopped down on his mattress. “I’m just gonna wake up and laugh!” He repeated. “You’re gonna wake up, and everything will be a-okay. Perfectly fine. Safe and sound. Absolutely- Okay, maybe talking isn’t gonna help me get to sleep.” He managed to shut himself up and close his eyes, though it took a while longer to fully fall asleep. Despite what he tried so hard to convince himself, he was terrified out of his mind.

-

“Gumball! Hurry up, we’re gonna be late!”

Gumball shot up from bed, immediately hitting his head on the top bunk. “Oww…” That was weird… That never used to happen before.

“Jeez, dude, I didn’t know that was gonna scare you! Did you hear me, though? You gotta get up, man, or we’ll be late again!”

“Yeah, ye- Wait!” He shot up again, bonking up his forehead yet again. He hissed, then slowly got up from bed to avoid that happening ever again. “So that means it was all just a dream?” He rubbed at his head, then proceeded through the motions of getting ready. “Oh man, I had the weirdest dream ever last night, everyone became these weird things and we had to, like, fix them? Like, Banana Joe was taller and kind of weird looking, but they  _ all  _ looked really weird. Weirder than usual, I mean. Then I accidentally kissed Sarah instead of Penny which was really awkward because I thought she’d look different but she didn’t, but that turned both of them back so I guess it was fine. Then-”

“What did they look like?”

“Hmm…” He placed a hand on his chin. “If I had to try and describe it, it’d kinda be like…” Turning around to face Darwin, he immediately trailed off. His expression went from amused to thoroughly confused.

“...Dude? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it something with my face? Darn it! I thought I got everything wiped off this time!” He began to rub his hands all over his face. “Is it gone?”

Gumball stood in shock for a few more moments, before poking Darwin.

“What are you doing? I thought we agreed that we would  _ agree _ on handshakes from now on!”

“Dude, have you seriously not noticed? Why do you look like that? You’re all… Fleshy…”

“What?” Darwin stepped away, crossing his arms. “Is that a fancy way of saying I look fat?”

“Huh? No! You’re just…” He squinted. “You look exactly like the things in my dream!”

Suddenly the door swung open. “If you two don’t hurry, I’m eating your breakfast!”

“What the- Anais!?” Gumball ran over and crouched down, poking her face. “You’re the same as Darwin! What’s going on?”

Anais scrambled to get away from Gumball, swatting his hands away. “What is wrong with you? What do you mean ‘same as Darwin’?”

“I think he’s calling us fat.” Darwin grumbled, shaking his head. Anais glared.

“No! Are you  _ both  _ not noticing what’s going on here? Since when are you-? And-? Wh-? HUH?” Gumball sighed deeply and pressed both of his hands at the side of his head, and immediately flinched. He put his arms out in front of him and gasped. “What the what is going on here!?”

“What’s going on is that you’re gonna make us late for school if you don’t get out of your pajamas! Hurry up!” Anais left the room, Darwin following after a beat.

Gumball was too preoccupied looking at himself in utter disbelief. He stood in front of the mirror to fully assess the damage. Instead of bright blue fur, he had warm tan skin with dark brown hair and eyes. And he was much taller too, probably standing at around 5’2. After spinning around in front of the mirror to find anything else to freak out about, he ultimately decided to get dressed and go downstairs.

School would be  _ very  _ interesting today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this is my first gumball fic and i'm planning on continuing this! i'll try to update somewhat consistently, although i may be hindered by school and stuff, so keep that in mind! let me know what you think :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If he thought things couldn't get any worse, now Gumball has to get on the school bus and see all of his classmates with their new looks. Will Gumball offend at least one person by asking why they look weird? Probably.

After getting ready and being greeted by his new-looking parents, Gumball was already tired for the day. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like everyone was totally cool with everything. These thoughts raced in his head as he stood at the bus stop with his siblings, growing more and more anxious. Occasionally, he looked back and forth from Anais to Darwin. Were they seriously fine with all of this? Did they not notice?

“You’re freaking me out, man! You’ve been looking at me like that all day!” Darwin finally said, stepping away from his brother.

“I-  _ How _ do you not notice that nothing is the way it should be!? Everything is wrong! I’m not supposed to look like this, you’re not supposed to look like this, and she isn’t, either! Something is seriously wrong, and I’m gonna prove it!” Gumball pointed his finger in the air to punctuate his sentence.

“...How hard did you hit your head this morning?”

The three went back to standing in silence, Gumball still looking between his siblings. After a while, the bus finally pulled up. The door opened and…

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! Are you two  _ really  _ not seeing this!?” Gumball gestured wildly to the man behind the wheel, who frowned.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about him, Rocky, he hit his head on the top bunk again.” Darwin lightly pushed Gumball further into the bus. “Come on man, you’re gonna make everyone upset…”

Gumball sighed and walked down the middle of the bus, trying to suppress the urge to freak out over everyone’s new look. It wasn’t even what they looked like when Rob tried to change them! They were completely different, which only made him even more nervous. He earned a few eyebrows raised as he continued to look back and forth from everyone on the bus.

Darwin and Gumball finally sat down in a seat near the back, with Gumball at the window so he didn’t have to see everyone. “Are you sure you’re alright, dude? You’ve been looking at everyone like they’re diseased!”

“That’s my leading theory, dude! I have no idea what’s going on, everyone looks so weird, and they just don’t care! You seriously think we look like  _ this _ !?” He gestured wildly at his face.

“...Yes?”

“Well that’s wrong! This is all wrong, and I’m gonna figure out what’s going on if it’s the last thing I do!” He dramatically shook his fist in the air, earning a few more looks.

Darwin sighed. “Right. This is another one of your big things that gets us into more trouble than we started with, isn’t it?”

“What? No! It’s serious this time, Darwin!”

“Serious? Like last week when Mrs. Mom wouldn’t let you dye your hair blue and you ran around town trying to find some other way to do it? And when people tried to stop you, you said ‘It’s serious this time! Dunking my head in blueberries for 5 hours is totally the most plausible solution!’”

“Wh-? Huh? Why would I want to dye my hair blue if it's already- Right. Well even if I  _ did  _ do that, I’m sure it was pretty serious. But that doesn’t matter! I’m  _ really  _ serious this time! More than I’ve ever been! I’m gonna fix all of this and turn everyone back!”

“Right. Have fun with that, man.” Darwin took a sketchbook out of his bag and started doodling.

“You’re not gonna join me? Come on, dude! I can’t do this alone, I’m gonna mess it up even more than before if I don’t have someone as my voice of reason! C’mon buddy! I know deep down you  _ really  _ wanna get back to your normal life!” He poked Darwin in the face a couple times.

“Dude! How am I supposed to help you if I don’t even know what you’re talking about? This  _ is  _ my normal life, man, and your weekly thing sounds a lot less solvable than it usually is,” Gumball slumped over and frowned, making Darwin sigh. “Look, I’ll play along for a little bit.  _ But! _ If this gets existential, I’m bailing and playing with Banana Joe.”

“Deal!” Gumball grinned and shook Darwin’s hand. “So firstly, gimme that sketchbook!” He reached for the book, causing Darwin to flinch.

“Aah! No! This is mine, man, get your own!”

“C’mon! I gotta draw what everyone is meant to look like!”

“Ugh, fine. Just don’t look through it! The world isn’t ready for my art…”

“...Right.” Gumball snatched the book and flipped to a new page. “Alright, hmm…” He tapped the pencil to his chin, staring at the page. “Who do I start with? There’s a lot of people!”

“Ooh! Do me! I wanna see what your concussion brain thinks I look like!”

“Ugh, this isn’t from me hitting my head! This is real life, man! Now lemme think…” Gumball tried his best to draw Darwin, though he wasn’t exactly used to the extra finger. “How do you deal with this! This is so hard…” After a few moments of trying, he finally got a good enough drawing.

“...Huh? How does that even work?”

“I dunno, it just does! You used to be our pet fish! But then we realized you were, like, magic! Then we flushed you by accident. Then you got out of the ocean and then grew lungs and legs and came back to Elmore and then we found you and adopted you!”

Darwin raised an eyebrow and frowned. “Are you serious? Since when am I a pet? That story doesn’t even make sense, either! Remember what we learned in biology? Things can’t evolve just because it’d be helpful!”

“Yeah, but you did! What even happened in this version?”

“You really don’t remember? You literally just adopted me, then I got lost in the mall at first, and then you found me!” Darwin crossed his arms, and Gumball shrugged. “Whatever, I’ll be offended by that later. What did  _ you  _ look like?”

Gumball then proceeded to draw himself, making Darwin laugh. “What? What’s so funny, this is what I looked like!”

“It’s just funny! Remember in elementary school when you would hiss at kids in the halls? It makes total sense that you’re a cat in your weird alternate reality!”

“What? Alternate reality?”

“Yeah!” Darwin pointed at Gumball’s drawings. “It’s like some kind of alternate universe! Maybe-” Suddenly, Darwin was interrupted

“Are you two talking about au’s!?”

A blonde girl with twin buns quickly turned around from the seat in front of them. She grinned wide and looked at the two excitedly as they glanced at each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gumball learns what an au is from the help of none other than Sarah, and suddenly something clicks. Too bad most people don't believe him.

The rest of the bus ride went about as anyone could assume. Time seemed to drag on, until they were finally walking down the hallway of their school.

“So as I was saying, my personal favorite au is the one where we’re all in highschool, but we’re all played by much older and much more attractive actors! But I do also like the one where we’re all the same, just the opposite gender! Though I don’t think the audience would like my character as much… Actually, I also really like the one where-”

“Sarah!” Gumball stomped on the ground in his place. “This is  _ real life  _ we’re talking about! Not one of your… fanfictions! I’m sorry, but I really don’t need any distractions!”

“Oh! That reminds me of the au where you’re a super savvy cop who-”

Gumball sighed, tuning Sarah out. “I don’t think this is gonna end any time soon, man, we gotta think of a way out!” He whisper-yelled to Darwin.

“But what if your thing matches up with one of her au thingies! That’d be some pretty strong evidence, dude!”

“Even if it does, how is that gonna help? That’ll just fuel her fangirl fire even more! Must I remind you what happened the last time we acted out one of her stories!?”

“...What?”

“Remember? Laser heart? When she made us comic book characters? Did that seriously only happen to me?”

“You know Laser Heart!?” Sarah gasped, inserting herself between Gumball and Darwin. “How do you know about that? That’s an au within an au! But most importantly… Did you like it?” She grinned and pushed her hands together.

“Um… Yes…? I guess? I dunno, that’s kinda what I wanted to ask. Do you have an au where everyone’s-”

“-Wildly different species-slash-objects in which you’re a blue cat and darwin is an orange fish and I’m an ice cream cone? Because as a matter of fact, I do! Why do you ask?”

Gumball stared for a moment, then punched Darwin in the arm to tell him “I told you so.”

“Wait, really!? Oh man, okay, that’s really not what I expected. So, wait a minute, how does that one end?”

“Uhh…” Sarah filed through a couple of notebooks in her backpack and flipped through one of them. “Everyone dies! They find out they’re in a TV show and Rob isn’t able to save them before it’s too late! So they all fall out of the world as it ends.” She scrunched her face. “That one’s ending could be worked on, I think…”

“Dies!?” Gumball exclaimed. “Wait, did you write all that? Why would you end it like that!? Change it!”

Sarah laughed. “I didn’t write it, silly! I found a bunch of these in a van, and they happened to be written already!” She wiggled the notebook in front of their faces, the golden CN logo on it shining in the light.

“Wait, what? Lemme see that!” He snatched the book and leafed through the pages. “Dude, these are all real! All of this has happened!” He pointed at the page that detailed Darwin’s origins.

“You really  _ weren’t  _ lying!” Darwin looked closely at the pages. “I don’t understand, most of these seem like they could happen, but they haven’t! And other ones are almost word for word things that have happened here!”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “What are you two talking about?”

“Gumball is fr-” Gumball threw his hand over Darwin’s mouth to shut him up.

“Dude, don’t just say it to anyone!” He said between his teeth. “What my brother is  _ trying  _ to say is that these stories are really really interesting and we want to borrow this notebook for the time being!” He awkwardly smiled.

“Oh! Well I don’t care, that one’s frustrating to read through, anyways. You’re gonna really love it for the whole thing, and then  _ completely  _ hate it by the end. Ugh! I hate cliffhangers so much. It had so much potential!” Sarah balled her hands in fists.

“...Right. Okay, well... I’ll get this back to you later, I guess… Alright, bye.” Gumball turned around on his heel and kept flipping through the pages. “This is so weird… It’s like my entire life is written out!” As he flipped through the pages, he noticed something clipped to a page. “Whoa, look! Yeah, this is what we look like!” He took the picture of their family out of the book and showed it to Darwin. 

“It’s kinda like your drawing! But did we really look so… Cartoony?”

“Um… I guess? It looks pretty normal to me…”

“I don’t even have a nose or ears! Or a torso! How did I function?”

“Eh, there’s a lot weirder stuff than that. We all just decided that it’s better we don’t think about it, it helps to sleep at night. Anyways!” Gumball slammed his fist to his palm. “I know  _ exactly  _ who we have to talk to next!”

“Anais?”

“What? No.”

“But don’t you think she’d be helpful to figure out what this all means?”

“No, no I don’t. All we’d get from her is a raised eyebrow and a smug smirk. She’d never believe us.”

“Believe what?” A voice came from behind him.

“Aah!” He flinched, then relaxed. “Oh, it’s only you.”

“What’s that book?” Anais grabbed the book from Gumball. “What the-? Did that girl write fanfiction about you again?”

“No! She found it in a van, and it perfectly matches up with everything I’ve been saying!” Gumball put his hands on his hips. “Pick a random page and tell me the beginning of one of the stories.”

“How is that gonna prove anything to me?”

“Because I’m obviously from an alternate universe, and I was put into your universe’s Gumball! And that book is about where I came from! Now read a random page. I’ve only had the book for like two minutes, I wouldn’t be able to have it memorized. Go ahead!”

“...Right, I’m just gonna let that slide for now. Umm… Okay, what did Mom do when she found out your DVD was late?”

“Chased us through the neighborhood on a dog and then ran from Larry when she found out how much it cost.”

“...Okay, that was just lucky. Lemme see… Right, when Rob ruined your life, how did you fix everything?”

“...Huh?”

“In the mall? It says right here Rob ruined your life with a magical remote.”

“I don’t remember that! Lemme see that!” Gumball took the book and started reading that portion.

“Look, Gumball, I really don’t have time for your made up games today. You obviously just hit your head really hard and-”

“Try again, sis. Boom!” He pointed to the portion that explained that he wouldn’t remember anything from then.

“Ugh, alright, I’ll do one more.” Anais rolled her eyes and flipped through. “Alright, what did you do to Rob after he made Banana Barbara make… future paintings? What?”

“Oh! That one’s easy, we erased him from existence! But then we felt bad so we had Banana Barbara paint him back, but we gave him a pig tail.”

“You killed him!?” Darwin exclaimed.

“Well, that’s more of a ‘we’, technically. B-But we brought him back!”

“Okay, that’s a little freaky… I still don’t believe you, though. It’s just a weird coincidence that I chose two of them that you’ve read.”

“Whatever, I don’t care if you don’t believe me! Because Darwin here believes me!” He threw his arm around Darwin’s shoulders and grinned.

“I think that’s just because he always believes you. If you get  _ any  _ more proof, maybe I’ll believe you.” She shook her head and walked down the hall.

“Okay, well at least I didn’t get the smirk… I don’t get how she doesn't believe me! How else would I know all that!?”

“Weren’t you about to say something before she came?”

“Oh, right!” Gumball flipped the book to the very end. “It’s just like Sarah said, Rob was trying to do something! Maybe he remembers something!”

“I thought you hated Rob.”

“Oh, I do. But he’s the only person who might know something! I’ll just have to try and talk to him, I guess…”

“You’re gonna be able to do that?”

Gumball inhaled sharply. “Ssssss…. Maybe. That’s a  _ strong _ maybe…”

Darwin grabbed the book and flipped through the pages. “What did you even do to make him hate you in your… universe?”

“Oh, you know, didn’t save him from the void… Let him get all messed up and glitchy… Made him a villain… The list is practically endless, honestly. We’re kinda nemeses… Not to brag…” Gumball played with his nails and smirked.

Darwin raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good thing?”

“For us it is,”

“That kinda just sounds like dating with more steps…”

“Um, no. I’m dating Penny, not Rob. Me and Rob hate each other. There’s a big difference, dude! We’re just very serious about hating each other.”

“Alright!” Darwin threw his hands in the air. 

“That reminds me, how did any of that happen in this world? There’s no void here, is there? And I’m guessing Penny didn’t have a shell– She was a peanut, by the way.”

“Uhh… Nothing, honestly! Rob just doesn’t like you because you would always ignore him and stuff. And I don’t really know how you and Penny worked out, you never told me!” Darwin opened the door to the classroom and walked inside. “If you really want to know, you’re gonna have to ask her somehow.” He pointed at Penny.

“Whoa…” Gumball stared at her. “She’s the only person I’ve seen all day that looks somewhat okay!”

“Gee, thanks... Someone’s gonna punch you in the face for that one of these times, man…” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Pretty soon it won’t be my problem, because I’m gonna get to the right universe and then fix everything! It’ll be this world’s Gumball’s problem!”

Darwin shrugged. 

“Trust me, man, soon you’re gonna have your normal bro back, and I’ll have mine!” Gumball sat at his desk and crossed his arms. “I just gotta figure out how I’m gonna get Rob to agree!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why yes, i DID update twice in a day


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gumball and Darwin manage to find two more people to help them solve this mystery. After a long time of trying to explain to them, a few things fall into place, now all they need is a plan.

Gumball struggled to focus in class, constantly staring at his classmates. He was  _ not  _ going to get used to this, and frankly he didn’t want to. At least Miss Simian looked better than before. He slapped his hand over his mouth after he had that thought, if she was somehow a master of telepathy, that would get him a one way ticket to Brown’s office. Wait, what if she was telepathic?  _ You want to give me an A soooooo bad… Oooo you want to pass me… And maybe Darwin, too. Actually, just give him a B, he doesn’t need a complex. Maybe a C+, just so he doesn’t– _

“Why are you looking at Miss Simian like that?” The person next to him whispered. Gumball squinted and tried to figure out who it was.

“I’m trying to see if she’s telepathic! Maybe she’ll pass me if she realizes that I, too, am a master of telepathy, she’ll realize we’re one in the same and pass me!”

The person giggled. “Okay, silly.” The bell suddenly rung, and Simian dismissed everyone. “You and Darwin wanna sit with me at lunch? I usually sit with Leslie, but he’s at home sick,” She stood up and collected her books.

“Oh, um…” He glanced at Darwin, who shrugged. “Yeah, sure! I might bring someone else, too, though.”

“That’s fine! See you later,” The girl kissed him on the forehead and walked out of the class.

Gumball tapped his chin for a moment, then realized. “Ohhh… Penny.”

“I thought you knew that was Penny?” Darwin asked, walking to the door.

“Well, yeah, but… I don’t know! I’m still not used to it, ya know? It feels weird, since she’s not  _ my  _ Penny.” Gumball grabbed his books and followed Darwin down the hall. 

The two dropped their stuff off at their lockers and decided to split up to look for Rob. 

“...This was a horrible idea, I don’t even know what he looks like!” Gumball sighed and walked down the hall, squinting at anyone who could possibly be Rob.

Then, one kid caught his eye. He had an eyepatch, that  _ had  _ to be Rob! Gumball ran up to him and shook his shoulders “What do you know!?”

The kid stared at him and opened his mouth, then closed it.

“Well?” The kid shook his head rapidly. “...You  _ are  _ Rob, right?”

The kid glared and pushed Gumball off of him, then stomped away. Gumball put his hands on his hips to think for a moment. “Oh yeah, William.” He inhaled deeply and continued walking. “That’s… Um… Okay, I’m gonna hope he doesn’t have terrifying powers in this wO-” Gumball suddenly bumped into the person in front of him.

“Would you watch where you’re–!” The person looked down at Gumball and sighed. “Oh, it’s just you.”

Gumball gasped. “That voice! You’re–!” He backed up and took a long look at the person in front of him. Yeah, this should have been a lot easier. The person was wearing practically the same outfit as Rob, just slightly less… glitched out. His hair was messy and in a ponytail, his bangs slightly covering the bandage on his eye. Speaking of bandages, those were wrapped around both arms, and part of his leg. And to make everything worse, he was wearing crocs. 

“Oh my god, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Wait, I shouldn’t be so excited about this, I should be angry!” He grabbed Rob’s arms and shook him. “What did you do!? Why are we in this w–”

Rob slapped his hand over Gumball’s mouth. “Shut  _ up _ ! I don’t need people hearing all that!” He whisper-shouted. “Ew! Did you just lick my hand!?” 

Gumball pushed himself away and grinned. “So you  _ do  _ know what’s going on! I knew it! I knew it, and you didn’t!”

“I was actually fairly certain you had something to do with it, too.”

“Wh- What? Then why didn’t you try and find me!? I’ve been looking for you all day!”

Rob sighed and leaned against the lockers. “It’s better like this. Now nobody’s stuck in the void and we can all live like–”

“Nobody remembers anything! They’re obviously  _ supposed  _ to be here! What happened to everyone else?”

Rob’s eye widened. “Wait, they don’t?”

“Wh- Haven’t you talked to anyone all day?” Rob shrugged. “Well no, they don’t! Everyone except Darwin thinks I’m crazy! Which… I guess is normal, but… No, it doesn’t matter! No one knows what I’m talking about, except Sarah!”

“Sarah?”

“She doesn’t  _ actually  _ remember anything… She just had this book about it.” He handed the notebook to Rob, who started looking through it. “It’s like everything was some sort of–”

“Ugh, of  _ course  _ everything goes back to fanfiction! I hate that it makes so much sense.”

“Why does it make sense…?”

Rob looked down at Gumball, then shook his head. “It’s nothing. So what is it you wanted to do…?”

Gumball opened his mouth, then hesitated. “Um… I kinda thought you’d have a solution? So…” He smiled awkwardly. “...Lunch?”

He sighed. “Fine.”

The two bickered as they walked to lunch, and finally arrived at the table.

“Oh! I didn’t think you’d bring Rob.” Penny changed her voice to a whisper. “I thought you hated each other?”

Gumball shrugged and sat down. “You know, I think I’m just, like, so mature now that I’ve moved past the need for petty rivalries.” He put his arms behind his head and leaned back, falling off of his seat. 

“Dude, what happened to asking him about the alternA-”

Gumball and Rob both slapped their hands over Darwin’s mouth, cutting him off.

“Shhh! What did I tell you? No telling anyone! It’d be too confusing for her!” Gumball whispered, crossing his arms.

“What would be too confusing for me?” Penny leaned in to their conversation.

“Huh!? How did you hear me?”

“Come on, I’m sitting right next to you! Just tell me what’s up! I’m sure I’ll understand.”

Gumball sighed, and gave her a poorly explained rundown of what happened. Penny’s face shifted to an expression of confusion, so Rob had to take over. Except, his explanation was even worse than Gumball’s.

“...Right…” Penny rubbed her forehead. “Wow, that was enough to give me a headache. Yeah, you were right, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Did you two hit your heads or something?”

“Well actually this morning he-”

“But I’m telling the truth! What do I have to do to make you believe me?”

“Oh, I’m sure that you’re telling the truth, you’re just really inarticulate. I can’t tell if you’re trying to explain the plot of a TV show or a really weird dream you had.”

“No, it’s real life! Come on Darwin, tell her!”

Darwin shook his head. “How many times do I have to say it, man, this is a you-problem! I wasn’t there, remember?”

Gumball groaned and pressed his hands to his temples. “Alright, great. Should I explain it again?”

“Maybe if you wrote it down and drew something out I’d understand? Do you have a notebook or some paper on you?”

And suddenly, the lightbulb flashed over Gumball’s head. Metaphorically, of course; apparently that doesn’t happen in ‘real life settings’. He reached for the notebook he got from Sarah and opened it to the first page. “Alright, start reading!”

Penny stared for a moment. “...Really? This is… really long. Do you have anything that isn’t a million pages of…” She squinted at the page. “...A blue cat with weirdly large hips?”

“They are  _ not  _ weirdly large! I’m just supposed to grow into them…” Gumball crossed his arms and looked away, his face heating up.

“Oh! Is this supposed to be you? I’ve seen these things before, what are they called… fursonas! I didn’t know you were into that stuff. Wait, did you draw this? It’s really good!”

“What? No! That’s a- ugh. It’s me. But not, like, something I made up! This book is all real, it’s stuff that happened to me! Flip to the end, that’s where I ended up!”

Penny raised an eyebrow, but flipped to the page nonetheless. “...Gumball sat in the cafeteria and really badly explained alternate universes…?”

“Wait, what?” Gumball, Rob, and Darwin all crowded around the book, words seemingly being added every second. “Whoa… So it’s, like… Still writing?” as he spoke, those exact words were written out. He slapped his hands over his mouth.

Darwin leaned in to the book, and read as words were being added. “So surprised at this revelation, Gumball’s thoughts raced. ‘What the f- Gumball! Censor your thoughts!” Darwin put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Okay, now I  _ really  _ don’t know what’s going on here. Is this a prank or something? This is getting kinda freaky!”

“I told you! This is a book about me! I bet it explains everything that happened from before!” Gumball flipped a couple pages back and pointed. “Alright, start reading!” He stepped away as Darwin and Penny read, tapping his foot on the ground. “What do you think happened?”

“To what?” Rob crossed his arms.

“You know, to everything! Why are we in a completely different reality? What happened to everyone else?”

“Eh, I only have the answer to that first question.” Rob sighed and shifted his weight. “I figured it all out after what happened with Banana Barbara. Do you remember the Void?”

“Umm… Kinda? I mean, I read a little bit about it from that notebook, and I’m pretty sure I was in it for a little while before I got here. Isn’t it for mistakes or something?”

Rob nodded. “Mhm. That’s where me and Molly were, but if I remember correctly…” He glared at Gumball for a moment. “I wasn’t the one you saved.”

“Hey! Now’s not the time for your tragic backstory, where are you going with this”

“Well, I told Barbara to paint the future, and all she could make was these paintings of static! And tha-”

“I hate to interrupt, but I think the word is  _ forced,  _ not told.” Gumball smiled smugly.

Rob sighed. “Fine, forced. Whatever, the point is she was painting the void, and then the whole town got sucked into the void a couple weeks later!”

“But why? We’re a good town!”

“Good is a strong word, but I get what you mean. It’s because we weren’t relevant anymore. Once the universe realized everything was about to stop, it decided we were a mistake, and put us in the void.”

“What do you mean, ‘stop’?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know. But if the static means anything, then-”

“We’re done!” Darwin exclaimed with a grin.

“Oh! So, how’s about it? You believe me now?”

“Uh… Yeah. I guess? I dunno, this is all so weird. Buuuut…” Penny stretched, then sighed. “I guess if watching the book write itself isn’t evidence enough, I don’t know what is. You’ve got a pretty strange life, Gumball.”

“We also went to some other pages while you and Rob were talking, just for fun! Like how Penny literally came out of a shell before you dated… That was so cool! This stuff would make a great TV show!”

“Well, that’s-”

“I know, right!? It’d be all about me! Whoa… Imagine how much money that’d make! We’d be rich!”

“Wait, so does this mean you don’t remember anything? Like from this world specifically?” Penny pointed to the ground.

“Nope! I’m basically a completely different person! That’s why I’m still weirded out by how everyone looks…”

“Huh. Maybe I’ll give you a crash course! There’s  _ definitely  _ some stuff you should know, if you’re gonna be here for a while.”

“Wait, no, now that we know nobody else is with us, we can’t just stay here! We have to find everyone from  _ our  _ universe!” Rob interjected. “There probably in some other alternate universe… We’re gonna have to search for them.” He slammed his fist down on his palm.

“How do we do that?”

Rob opened his mouth, then put his hand to his chin. He shrugged after a moment. “I dunno.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> looks like things are starting to heat up ;) don't forget to check every now and then for updates, i've been pretty consistently updating at least daily, sometimes a few times in a day! also, i apologize for extra space between paragraphs, i'll work on avoiding that next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four discuss different ways they could possibly get Gumball and Rob to go home, but they really aren't getting anywhere. There's gotta be someone with enough brainpower to think of a solution, right?

The rest of the day seemed to drag on, Gumball trying his hardest to be patient for the day to end. The four agreed to meet at the Wattersons’ house after school to brainstorm and really figure out what to do, so all they had to do was get through the day.

After a much longer day than usual, the students were finally dismissed, and they were free to finally buckle down and really get to the bottom of what was happening.

“Umm… Can I get a burger– hold the pickle, and uhm… A large fry… Ooo, Do I want a shake or a soda?”

Gumball squinted at the menu at Joyful Burger, trying to figure out what he wanted.

“Get the shake, it’s tasty!” Darwin hugged his arms and grinned.

“No! Get the soda, aren’t you lactose intolerant?” Penny asked, earning a gasp from Gumball.

“Wow, it really hurts to hear you say that, Penny! I’ll have you know I’m the most tolerant person in this entire town! You know why? Because everyone deserves to be equal! No one should be living in–!”

“Do you want the shake or not?” Larry asked, resting his head on his arm.

“Oh, yes. What were we talking about again?”

The four sat at a table and ate, occasionally bringing up topics that only happened in one universe. “Wait, so you’re saying we never dumped you in a lake and drove off?”

“I don’t think that’d even be okay in  _ your  _ universe, dude.” Darwin ate a couple fries, then pointed one at Gumball. “You  _ did  _ try to connect me to my culture at one point, but you really didn’t do a good job at it. Didn’t end up with me in a lake, though.”

“I still don’t understand how that all works in this world. Do you get it, Rob, because I don’t.” Rob shrugged. “See, he doesn’t get it either! Is there, like, a summary of human culture or something?”

Darwin and Penny looked at each other, then back at Gumball. “That’d take way too long. It’s cool in some parts! Then really  _ really  _ bad in others. But it’s mostly just boring.” Penny took a sip of her drink, then leaned back. 

“I mean, I didn’t really mean history, I meant- nevermind. I’ll probably figure it out.” Gumball pushed his tray away from him after finishing. “So… What was this Gumball like?”

“Similar enough for me not to realize you weren’t him,” Penny giggled. “The only difference is that you’re  _ really  _ clumsy.”

“I’m not clumsy! I’m just not used to being so tall! It’s so weird, everyone’s around the same height! Now I’m gonna go back to normal and feel even shorter than before…” Gumball pouted.

“You’re still not even that tall…” Rob remarked, leaning his head against his arm.

“Shush! At least  _ you’re  _ the same height as before! You barely have anything to get used to!”

“That’s not true, my eye is slightly to the left! I’m used to it being perfectly centered, I keep bumping into things, and this other eye is apparently just for show.”

“Oh yeah, I don’t really remember what happened with that in our version…” Penny looked up for a moment, then shrugged. 

“Of course you don’t…” Rob muttered. Gumball laughed nervously, then threw away his trash.

“Well, I’m all done here! Let’s get moving! I bet we’ll-” Suddenly, Gumball hunched over. “Ohhh… That’s not good. Owww....” He held his stomach and leaned against the wall. “Dude, what just happened…”

“I told you! Lactose intolerant!”

“Why wouldn’t I be accepting of people without toes!? I already told you, I love everyo-” Gumball tensed up. “Ohhh… You meant that thing where people can’t have dairy… That makes a lot more sense. Hey, wait! Why is it different in this world!? I’m not like this in  _ my  _ version! I always thought people like this were- ohh… Lame…”

“Dude, you’ve always been like this in this universe! Usually you don’t really care, though…”

“Well, I don’t!” Gumball pumped a fist in the air, then leaned back again. “Uhh… I’ll stop caring in a minute, I’ll be right back!” And like that, he was off.

The three looked at each other, then laughed. “This Gumball’s a lot more active than ours, huh?”

“I know! All day he’s been all over the place! I mean, that’s how he usually is, but…”

“It’s almost like he’s trying to entertain someone! Like, not anyone around, but… You get what I mean.”

Rob shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his arm. “I-I mean, our Elmore is pretty wild compared to this one, that probably explains it,” He said, not maintaining eye contact.

“Hmm… I guess so! But no, some of the stuff in this book really made it seem like he was some sort of… Uh… What’s the word? Main character? Protagonist! Isn’t it weird that everything revolved around him?” She looked confusedly at the book as she flipped through it. “Almost all of it is from his point of view!”

Rob gave a hesitant look, before shrugging. “I dunno, it’s probably not important.” He said quickly.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I was gonna bring it up earlier, but I felt like Gumball would get all weird about it…” Penny giggled. “You know how he is with attention,”

Rob kicked at the ground with a harsh laugh. “I guess I do.”

The three continued talking about Gumball, each having a much different perspective than the others. Until finally, the boy in question came back from his “break”.

“Well, look who finally decided to come back! You have fun?” Darwin elbowed Gumball in the side.

Gumball shuddered. “I can’t wait to get back to normal Elmore.”

Once they finished cleaning up, the four headed to the Wattersons’ house, still discussing the differences between their worlds. Despite most people keeping the same personality, there was a lot that simply wasn’t possible in this new world, as well as a few things that weren’t even plausible in Gumball’s. That part surprised him the most; He had expected everything was possible in his version, but it turns out that every universe has its limitations.

He didn’t really like that.

Still not used to the new looks of everyone yet, Gumball flinched when he opened the door and saw his parents. Getting over it pretty quickly, he and the others walked in.

“Oh, you should have told me you were having friends over, I would have planned dinner,” Nicole said from the kitchen, leaning against the doorway.

“Nah, it’s fine, we went to Joyful Burger.”

“Alright then, call if you need anything!” She smiled warmly and walked back into the kitchen. The four walked upstairs to the bedroom, only to find that Anais was already in there.

“Hey Anais, could you maybe do whatever it is you’re doing downstairs? We’ve got some important things to discuss, you wouldn't understand.”

Anais raised an eyebrow. “You mean your alternate universe thing? It doesn’t sound that serious to me.” She turned back around and continued to use their computer. “Just ignore me, I won’t interrupt your little storytime.”

“I told you, it’s not a story! Everything I’ve said is the truth!” Gumball put his hands on his hips and glared at Anais.

“Whatever you say. I’m sure your friends will agree with me once they hear your story, anyway.”

“Well, actually I do believe him,” Penny said, which caused Anais to turn around to face her. “He’s just really bad at explaining, look!” She showed Anais the book and how it wrote as they spoke.

“What? Lemme see that!” Anais took the book and squinted at the page, then held it far away from her. “Where did you get this? Does it have some sort of speech recognition?” She held it out in front of her and inspected each little part of it.

“I already showed you that book!” Gumball crossed his arms and sulked.

“Not this part. This is really creepy…” She handed the book back to Penny and rested her arm on the desk. “So, even if I  _ did  _ believe this– Which I don’t!– What are you even supposed to do about it? So you were plunged into another dimension, are you supposed to just leave? I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Me and Gumball were sent here after our world ended, so that might be–”

“Yeah, no.” Anais cut Rob off. “You’re not ending this world that you aren’t even from just to put yourselves in the right universe… Or whatever. We’re doing this rationally.” Anais tapped her fist to her hand.

“Oh, so  _ now  _ you believe me!?”

“Yes, because unlike a certain someone I know, when I find out I’m wrong I don’t just deny it and stick with it.” She hopped out of her chair and sat on the floor with the others. “So, do you have any ideas?”

“Nope! That’s why we all came here!” Darwin said, leaning back on his hands.

“I still think tha–”

“We aren’t ending the world, Rob.” Anais said with an eyebrow raised. Rob huffed and looked away. “Right, so are there any ideas that  _ don’t  _ lead to a world falling apart?”

The rest of them glanced at one another with hesitant expressions, before slowly shaking their heads.

Anais smacked her forehead. “Of course not. Alright, let’s brainstorm then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! sorry for the delay, i've been a bit busy! i still have loads of school work, so i'm sorry if there's a lot more time between updates from now on!!!


End file.
